Five Ways to Make Your Home Feel like a Hotel

Too often, we associate the word vacation with a getaway to someplace far from home. We envision leaving the state on a plane or by interstate to spend a week or two living lavishly before rushing back home to (what we view as) our comparatively stale hometowns. But it doesn't have to be that way! With a few modifications to your home and by adjusting your mindset, you can create the feeling of living in a hotel and being on vacation while never leaving home!

1. Revitalize Your Bedroom and Bathroom

When you think of a beautiful, plush hotel room, the first thing that comes to mind is a fresh and perfectly made bed — and this is one aspect of a fine hotel room that you can easily bring into your home.

If your comforter and accent pillows are beginning to look a little used, upgrade to a new set to help give your bed a fresh, fluffy look that just yells, “come hop in!" Think pillows—lots of pillows—and quality new sheets with a high thread-count. None of this is terribly expensive, but can still go a long way towards giving you a hotel-at-home feel.

While you're at it, consider new end tables and a new table lamp on each side of the bed (experiment with wattage and color temperatures to create the lighting look you prefer). Another hotel-proven option is to add fresh flowers or greenery to the room. New curtains or blinds also help. All of these are low-effort, low-cost upgrades that still pack a visual punch when you enter the room.

If you're looking for a complete bedroom-decorating overhaul, stick to neutral tones (hotel rooms do this to cater to varying tastes) while supplying a touch of color here and there for effect.

Bonus tip: Make the bed first thing in the morning! You may not have a handy maid service to do the work for you, but if you don't take the time to actually make the bed look nice, your new bedding and pillows won't be as effective, and you won't get that I'm-living-in-a-hotel feel!

For the bathroom, adding a touch of luxury is simple. Add fresh towels—plenty of them!—in attractive colors, along with a new selection of your favorite bath items, and perhaps a candle or two.

2. Capture that Clean Feel

Because hotel rooms are tidy places, they often give us a pleasant “ahh"-type feeling when we enter. A clean and organized home can accomplish the same thing, providing a refreshing and enjoyable atmosphere.

In a hotel room there is minimal clutter. You won't find all that everyday, household-type clutter like yesterday's bills or that ten-pack of bathroom tissue that we bought because it was on sale. Secondly, hotels are usually not over-furnished or over-decorated. When you own many excellent items and love them all, the first impulse may be to display them all at once, but this can weigh down a room with an overload of visual clutter. Hotels often decorate with a minimalist mindset, and if hotel-emulation is your goal, you'll want to keep things attractive, but simple.

3. Add Artwork

Hotel rooms usually have artwork on display, and your home doesn't have to be any different. Again, a neutral, calming color palette and scenes with general appeal (landscapes, seascapes, etc.) are a great bet. Remember to explore more than one kind of art; consider fine-art nature photography to give your room a natural feel and a punch of subtle color.

4. Prepare Splurge-Worthy Foods

For some folks, a major part of being on vacation is the opportunity to explore new foods. But you don't have to leave home to try this! Even though you're not officially “on vacation," set aside a few hours to experiment and create some new types of dishes that are different from your standard home menu. You'll have fun, save money, and create new memories with friends and family. Not so handy in the kitchen? No problem. Here's one more idea...

5. Explore Local Attractions

There's a common irony that people tend to ignore the interesting sights and sounds of their own hometown or city. Odds are that there are plenty of restaurants, entertainment options, events, and natural locations (lakes, caves, forests, etc.) within an hour of your home—attractions that you've never explored! Take a fraction of the money you would've spent on the travel and accommodations of an official “vacation" and use it discover new fun nearby.

How about you? How would you suggest making your home life feel more like a vacation?